White House Announces Resignations Of Six Education Department Officials

Washington--Six top Education Department officials appointed by
President Reagan will be cleaning out their desks this month, the
department confirmed last week.

Bill R. Phillips, chief of staff to Secretary of Education Lauro F.
Cavazos, said President Bush officially accepted the resignations of
five assistant secretaries and a deputy undersecretary late last week.
The resignations are effective March 23.

The White House is not expected to fill the positions immediately,
Mr. Phillips said, adding that "we have candidates for some of [the
slots] but not all of them."

The departing officials are:

Patricia M. Hines, assistant secretary for educational research and
improvement. She was named in November to fill on an acting basis the
post vacated by Chester E. Finn Jr., and was appointed without Senate
confirmation during the January Congressional recess.

Research lobbyists and some veteran agency employees criticized the
appointment, saying that Ms. Hines had insufficient experience in the
research field and that she played a supporting role in a controversial
battle for control of the department's research functions in the early
years of the Reagan Administration. (See Education Week, Nov. 9,
1988.)

Ms. Hines later served as an aide to Gary L. Bauer, both when he was
undersecretary of education and when he was domestic-policy adviser to
President Reagan.

Stormy Tenure

Madeleine C. Will, assistant secretary for special education and
rehabilitative services. She had held the position since 1983, often in
stormy circumstances.

A longtime advocate for handicapped children, Ms. Will was an active
proponent of the so-called "regular-education initiative"--a
controversial effort to better serve special-education students by
mainstreaming them into regular classrooms.

During her tenure, Ms. Will was the subject of a departmental
investigation after the disclosure that a staff member had been kept on
the office payroll for three months after resigning. And the assistant
secretary's public dispute with Justin Dart Jr., the former
commissioner of rehabilitation services, led to his forced resignation
in 1987.

Ms. Will was to have left the department last Friday, using
accumulated vacation time.

Beryl Dorsett, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary
education. Ms. Dorsett, appointed in February 1987, was previously a
Chapter 1 coordinator and an elementary-school administrator in the New
York City system.

Republican Activist

Legree S. Daniels, assistant secretary for civil rights. Appointed
in March 1987, Ms. Daniels was one of three black women--along with Ms.
Dorsett and Bonnie F. Guiton, assistant secretary for vocational and
adult education--confirmed for ed posts early that summer.

Ms. Daniels previously served as a deputy secretary of state in
Pennsylvania and as a state election commissioner. She was also very
active in Republican politics, serving as chairman of the National
Black Republican Council and a member of the executive committee of the
Republican National Committee.

Kenneth D. Whitehead, assistant secretary for postsecondary
education. Mr. Whitehead was a depu8ty assistant secretary in the
Reagan Administration and stepped into the division's top post last
March, when C. Ronald Kimberling vacated it.

Patrick Pizzella, deputy undersecretary for management. Mr.
Pizzella, formerly the administrator of management services in the same
division, took the deputy undersecretary's post when Mary M. Rose left
in October.

Like Ms. Hines, Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Pizzella were among a group of
officials officially appointed by President Reagan in January. Because
the Congress was in recess, they did not have to undergo confirmation
by the Senate.

An informed source said two other "recess appointments," along with
Ms. Guiton, were expected to retain their posts. They are Charles E.M.
Kolb, deputy undersecretary for planning, budget, and evaluation, and
Michelle Easton, deputy undersecretary for intergovernmental and
interagency affairs.

Mr. Phillips said no decision had been made on whether to retain
these officials. "They are as much in limbo as everyone else," he
added.

--jm & dv

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